Episode discussion post: "Echo"

[jae]

Aired:
21 May 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
25 May 2014 in Israel
7 June 2014 in the UK

This is a discussion post for episode 213 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season two, episode thirteen.)

Original promo trailer

"The Americans Season 2 Episode 13 Promo - Echo [HD] The Americans 2x13 Promo" (Watch on YouTube)

Episode recaps

From Grantland
From Time
From the Washington Post
From Rolling Stone
From the AV Club
From Hitfix
From IGN
From the Huffington Post: Karen Fratti, Maureen Ryan
From Vulture
From Variety
From the Tampa Bay Times
From Sound on Sight
From Collider
From Paste Magazine
From Gawker
From the Cloture Club
From tv.com
From tvrage.com
From Headline Planet
From spoilertv.com (in French)
From TV Ate My Wardrobe
From GAMbIT Magazine
From showratings.tv
From Comments Enabled
From Boob Tube Dude
From Unreality Primetime (UK)

Comments

Re: Stan not being a traitor and the second generation thing

[sistermagpie]

I can't remember that time very well, but was anti-nukes stuff really that left wing? I'm not really sure how lefty the church is, partly because I can't really remember how right wing churches got in what amount of time. Paige herself has made it clear that her attraction is in causes like building houses for poor people and getting rid of weapons, and Pastor Tim does seem like a holdover from the 70s that most kids Paige's age will probably see as sort of old-fashioned in that way pretty soon, while Paige is practically dewey-eyed over him. But I don't know exactly how far left he is.

Paige's lefty church

[jae]

Oh, I'm not trying to claim that he's a Gregory or anything (although I suppose he could be), just that this isn't the sort of church that's going to be pressuring kids to vote Republican if they're the sort of church that values things like building houses for poor people and getting rid of weapons. It's a crunchy-granola church that thinks it would be perfectly acceptable to have an earring, stuff like that. :)

But yeah, anti-nukes stuff was pretty left-wing at the time. Left of the mainstream Democrats, to be sure, though not necessarily socialist.

-J

Re: Paige's lefty church

[sistermagpie]

Just one little note on that--if the houses being built were on missionary trips they could still be a right wing church. But I agree it definitely seems more crunchy granola. Pastor Tim strikes me as a holdover from the 70s guitar mass years etc. There's nothing about him that reads new conservative or Reagan--though so far he doesn't seem like he's overtly political. Some of the kids in his group might very well wind up in more conservative churches, though. Paige seems to have unknowingly gravitated to the type of stuff her mother likes without realizing it.